Telegraph code.



PATENTED JAN. 22, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

B W m w 89 P m M... \m P H W M Hm x Q w V 5 5 V R m M A M v R A mm M E 0 A U U B E T V M D M E m I NUMBLR U. W. MCDONALD.

TELEGRAPH CODE.

APPLJZOATION FILED JULY 28. 1905.

TRA N5 FE R Z SHEET FGOT OR FEET LNCH OR INCHES mama mAMETER PETITION FORPATENT DOES uormmmea WH'NES5E5: F7 \NVENTOR Q Q/r/z Mb No. 841 885. I PATENTEI) JAN. 22 190?.

0. W. MoDONALD. 4

TELEGRAPH-GODE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26, 1905 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

TRANSFER 2.

UFO! ANYTHING 0 \NVENToR:

' HLHNTHYS OFHCE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES Wool) MODONALQQF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

' v TELEGRAPH cons.

To all whorn it .may concern.-

, Be it known that I, CHARLEsWoon Mc- DONALD, a citizen of the United States-of 'America, and aresident of San Francisco and'State of California, (whose present'postoflice address is Manila, Philippine Islands,)

have invented new and useful Improve ments in Telegraph Codes, as set forth in the ann'exeddiagrams and the following specification.

This invention relates to telegraph codes,

' and has for its object the provision of a code which is simple and capable of being readily .and easily'understood and operated and by' hereinafter set forth, as shown in the accome panying drawings, and finally pointed out in the appended claims. I

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

and to the various views and reference-signs appearing thereon, Figure l is a view in diagram of a sheet or page constructed and arranged inaccordance with and embodying the principles of my invention. Figs. 2 and 3v are similar views of other sheets or pages illustrative of the principles of my invention. In transmitting secret or cipher messages by means of private or secret codes it is a common practice to employ arbitrarilychosen prearranged words each designed to mean oneor more. words or a sentence of the message to be transmitted... This plan hecessitates the use of a very large number of arbitrarily-chosen prearranged Words if the code is designed to'cover a desirable range of requirements and besides requires the greatest of care in arranging the code-words to form the message-to be transmitted and in translating the message. when rece1ved. Moreover, where an extensive code 18 employed the liability of making errors and mistakes is very great, since the variation in a single letter may cause a difference in meaning of an entire sentence. Such apractice is also open to the objection of great expense in transmitting a' message telegraphically,

since each message will be composed of sev eral code-words, and which are charged for Specification of Letters Patent Application filed July 26. 1905. semi No. 271.367.

Patented Jan. 22, 1907.

either by the word or else by the number of letters employed.

ent invention to avoid the objections noted and to provide a code which, while simple and easily. comprehended, will enable even extensive messages to be prepared, transmitted, received, and deeiphered: expeditiously and accurately and at small expense,-

thing of secrecy.

. It is among the special objects of my pres- .65 While at the samet'ime not sacrificing any- It is also among the special purposes of my I inventiorr'to provide a secret code or cipher which is practically unlimited in the extent or scope to-which it may be applied.

In carrying out my invention I propose toemploy a serles of sheets or pages and to divide-each sheet or page by ruling or printing j lines thereon, or otherwise, into-intersecting columns, thereby providing on each page or sheet as many separate spaces or subdivisions as there are columns extending in one direction multiplied by the number of columns extending in the other direction. In each of'these spaces-or subdivisions I propose to arrangeone-or more figures, words,

or sentences,' according to the circumstances,

invention may difler from each other in the character of the message to be sent, according to the will or desire of the ones emplbying the same. I also propose to provide distinguishing marks or characters for each column. These column-distinguishing'marks or characters may' be varied, altered, or:

chan ed as desired. For instance, they may benumerals, orthey may be letters of the alphabet of the English or any other language, or they may be ofa'n other desired dlstinguishingcharacter. 11 the particular form shown, but to which, however, I

do not desire to be limited or restricted, letters of the al habet of the English language are employe It is desirable that the col umns of spaces or subdivisions extending in one direction be distinguished from those running in the opposite direction. the exam le illustrated in the drawings the horizonta columns are designated, respectively, by the. consonants; while the vertical columns are designated, respectively,

Thus in by the vowels. Where all the letters of the alphabet are employed in the manner above indicated wi h the respectively designated by the consonants evident, however, that o-ther'or additional page or sheet distin uishi-ng to whichthe column or page of each sheet or page is and the vertical 'column's'by. the vowels,- it will be readily seen that each age or sheet will contain one hundred and ve spaces or subdivisions. eachdesigned. to contain one or more figures orwords ;or sentences of the secret code. It is obvious that anydesired number of sheets or pages may be employed. Where more than one pa e or sheet is einployed, I propose to em-p oy page or sheet: distinguishing marks, figures, or characters. In the articular form shown, to which, how ever, t e invention is not to be limited or restricted, I employ letters of the alphabet todistinguishthe sheets or pages from each other. Thus in the upper left-hand corner placed the sheet or page distinguishing etter. If all the letters of the alphabet are employed for this urpose, it will-be readily seen that two t y onsand seven hundred and thirt' places or subdivisions are provided for t ecode. It" is characters or marks may be emp oyed. In accordance with my invention I 'ropose toemploy a transfer mark', figure, etter, or other char-' acter to indicate the particular dpage or sheet stinguishing I. mark employed in amessage applies and in-v one or more 'gures,

identificationpurposes dicating a transfer from one page to another. In practice the transfer character is usually prefixed to the column or page designating characters em loyed in the message. If desired and in t e case illustratedQin the present instance," I pro ose to reserve one or more letters of the a phabet-to be employed as transfer-letters. Thus the letter Z asindicated by the ex ression Transfer Z above thes aces mar ed Sheet A, .fSheet B, and eet B A on the drawings may be reserved for use only as a transfer-letter, indicating that a transfer is to be made, from one page to another, and in which, case said letter will not be used for column-nor page Similarly, the letter Y may'also be reserved for the same purpose or tor the purpose of denoting a new series of sheets or pages. By reserving two letters from the alphabet for denoting transfers and new series it will be understood that ,each page or 'heet will contain'ninety-five sections'or s aces each adapted to contain numerals, Words, or sentences making up the code book or system and with twenty-tour sheets or pages each designated or identified by a separate letter of the alphabet a total of two thousand two hundred and eighty of such spaces and sections will be provided.- Ord narily I have found that a' sufficiently large system for practical purposeswill be produced. by re-' horizontal columns say,

- one .or -mo're serving only one letter from the alphabet to denote transfers from one page toanother for instance, the letter Z- -employ1ng the remaining letters of the alphabet in the manner above described. This will result in providing twenty-five pages or sheets each containing one hundred sections or spaces, or a total of twenty-five hundred spaces or sections. AS above indicated, each space or section let each sheet or page is designed to contain ranged according to the desires or wishes of the individualmaking up the system. It will also be seen that the particular arrangement and relation of the column'and page or sheet identification or distinguishing characters may may be desired by the maker or user. convenient arrangement is shown wherein the consonants of the English alphabet are arranged in consecutive order along the marginal side or edge of each sheet or'page, while'the vowels are similarly arrayed along the top of the page or sheet, and the pages are the alphabet placed in the upper left-hand corner of the sheets or pages, and each sheet other page.

or page, if desired, may be conveniently ruled according to the column arrangement of the letters, so as into separate sections or spaces. These de-- tails, however, may wide range without departure from the spirit and scope of my invention, and I do not desire to be limited orrestricted to the articular arrangement shown and described.

In order to make up a code-message in accordance with my invention, the desired communication is selected from the various spaces'or sections of use of a couplet of letters, 'a'vowel and a consecutively distinguished by the letters of p to divide such sheet or pagethe various pages, theures, numerals, words, or sentences, and these may be selected and ar-" be varied for each particular systemgfifi 4 be varied throughout 'a consonant,indicating' the particular section or space of a sheet .or page and the page-dis tinguishing letterbeingb employed as a pre-- eing inserted at the.

fix, the transfer-letter proper point to indicate a transfer from one page to another. Thus supp'ose the message received was as follows: McDonald, Manila, Aehzabo The translation thereof will be effected by the use of the code-book as follows: The letter A'indicates the first sheet .or page, said page at the intersection of the columns res ectively designated an H. In this space or section is found Petition for patent does not infringe.

ch the section orspace on .by the letters E The letter'fZ denotes a transfer to an- The letters b a age to Whichthe transfer. is made, the

etters o k the particular'space or'seetron' remaining art on said page containing the of the message, as follows: upon anyt so that when translated denote I the the complete message will read: McDonald, Manila, Petition for patent does not infrin e upon anything on file in this oifice. n similar manner messa es may be prepared for transmission, as wil at once be apparent to those skilled in the art. t

From the foregoing description, takenin connection witlr'the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that I provide an exceedingly simplecode system by the use of which messages may be expeditiously prepared, transmitted, received, and translated without error and at small expense and that the system may be made as large or as small in range as may be desired;

Having now set'forth the object and nature of my invention and a construction embodying the principles thereof andhaving expla ned the principles thereof and the best mode-in which I at present contemplate applying the same, what I claim as new and useful and of my own invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1., A telegraph code comprising a series of sheets or pages each divided into sections or spaces arranged in intersecting colu'mn's, each space adapted to contain one or more figures,

numerals, words or sentences, each column and each age having a distinguishing character. anti a transfer character to denote transfer from one page to another.-

2. A telegraph code comprising a series of sheets or pages each having'a distinguishin or identifying character, and each divide into sections adapted to contain one or more numerals, words or sentencesfsaid sections being arranged in intersecting horizontal and vertical columns, an identifying or discharacter to denote a change or transfer from one sheet or page'to another. 3. A telegraph code comprising a series of sheets or pages respectively distinguished by letters of the alphabet, each sheet or page having sections or spacesarranged in intersecting columns, the columns running in one direction being respectively distinguished by certain letters of the al habet and those runnin in the o posite direction being distin uis ed by other letters of the alphabet, eac section or space adapted to contain one or more numerals, words or sentences, and a charactendifiering from those employed to distinguish the sheets or pages and columns to denote transfer from one page to another.

4. A telegraph code comprising a series of sheets or pages respectively distinguished by identifying characters, each sheet or page having sections or spaces arranged in intersecting columns, the columns runmn in one direction being respectively identifie by the vowels of the alphabet, and the columns runnin in the opposite direction being distinguis ed by consonants, each section 'or space adapted to contain one or more nu m erals, words or sentences, and a transfer character to denote transfer from onepag'e or sheet to another. p

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribin witnesses. f

HARL S WOOD McDONALD.- Witnesses:

JUAN TOLENTINO, Josnrn FRANCIS BOOMER. 

